This past week the weather was a seriously limiting factor to our weekends and our time spent exploring areas. As a result, this blog post will mostly focus on my time working at UPS and what I have been able to take away from the work that I have completed and the people I have met.
These past weeks I have been working with UPS in order to help maximize the efficiency of the Package delivery notification processes and the information system they use to organize the notification of deliveries. In order to do so, I have worked with members of the Industrial Engineering team who have helped me better understand the data collections and cleaning process that occurs at the off campus warehouses around the area. While the systems themselves are very advanced and involve lots of cutting edge technology, one thing about the Australian workforce is that they prefer the use of manual labor rather than that of automation. While a large shipping company in the United States like Amazon may have a fully autonomous organization and processing plant, Australian companies prefer the use of manual shipping processes because of the strict labor laws and regulations and the high costs of the technology.
Another activity that we have done as interns is getting the chance to meet the heads of most of the departments within the Australian UPS office. We have met the heads of HR, Finance, Sales, Brokerage, and the Directing Manager. They have supplied a really unique perspective on the business especially in the brokerage and HR departments. The brokerage department is responsible for clearing all shipments through customs and verifying the contents of shipments across the globe. The head of brokerage shared many stories of how the social climate and social state of Australia affects what they see come through their warehouses. For example, he explained that, right now, snus or nicotine pouches are being smuggled in many packages because of their illegal status here in Australia. The head of HR explained how he has had many conflicts with the stricter Australian workers’ unions and more socialist based government. He mentioned to us his conflict having worked as the individual worker companies and now fighting for corporations in many lawsuits.
Even with all the time spent on these learning experiences at UPS I have still found some time to continue my runs, go visit some restaurants, and see friends at local pubs. Next weekend I will be traveling to New Zealand to visit friends and see more of the Pacific.
Get ready for a New Zealand post next week! Heading out to see @rps029 !!
